J.Ross: How The Warriors Are Keeping Things Interesting

Last week the NBA trade deadline’s largest buzz came from the Cleveland Cavaliers. As long as the Cavs have LeBron James they will remain the favorite in the Eastern conference even if they weren’t playing like it. Cleveland got younger and their first run together was wildly successful on Sunday in Boston. The new crew added 49 points and Cleveland trounced the Celtics in Boston. So the NBA world may feel like it is back on track with the Cavs trying to chase down all of the East and zeroing in on their main target which is the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

Speaking of the Warriors they are just climbing through the NBA season. They are good and they know it. They also have a tough time keeping the NBA’s regular season interesting. They are on every team’s radar when they play Golden State. Focus is difficult to maintain for a team that is expecting to be playing more meaningful games in June. So let’s cue up Monday’s decision. Steve Kerr elected to have his players grab the clipboard and lead huddles during the timeouts. The players jumped in and did their part. It was a different voice, it was a different look, it was just that, it was different.

Here is what Steve Kerr said about it, “It’s their team. They have to take ownership of it. As coaches our job is to nudge them, guide them, we don’t control them. They determine their own fate. I don’t feel we’ve focused well at all the last month and it just seemed like the right thing to do.” The coach has a strong pulse of this team and this was the exact kind of team that you could do this with. He is still clearly the coach but showed strong leadership and comfort in his players ability to step up and take charge. I loved the move and the players seemed too as well.

This organization is the measuring stick for other organizations and this move was the same kind of thing that keeps them on top of the game. I think this was a great move by Kerr and I would expect more of these types of things from them in the near future.